Does anyone else come across situations like the following? It seems that I can't drive down the street without seeing Meterpans and SE Cables dangling off the side of a House while it gets sided or remodeled.

Is this common in your area? Has anyone heard of any Fires or Injuries that were caused by something like this?





Bill

Another Example:





Anybody else see stuff like this?

Bill

Sadly,I think this is a problem all over Bill. And the sparky is the bad guy because he has to fix this mess."The siding guy said it shouldn't cost near that much". Russell

Just tell the home owner to deduct your fee for fixing this willful damage from the siders bill.
If the local AHJ's would find a way to cite the fly by nite siders who do this type of work maybe this would be stopped. Of course it would take fines and jail time to get the message across. Do the local laws give that tool to the AHJ's?

I would say this would come under"unlicensed electrical work" and they could be cited for that.

I don't know the situation for the first set of photos, but in the second set the condition was the result of a second floor addition going up.

This is really the extreme of what I see and not just a result of siding being done. Does anyone remove the service to a pole as a regular course of action during major remodels, or is it generally left hanging somehow? I've only been asked once to move a service to a pole and that's because the whole house was being torn down.

It seems like the Contractors generally feel comfortable with leaving a service in this condition until they're finished with what they are doing and ready to call an Electrician in. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any Horror stories that resulted from something like this.

Bill

Ouch, that's a bad one!
BTW, shouldn't the chimney extend beyond the roof?

T_R,

Yes, the chimney did extend above the roof at one time. This was a one floor House originally and they added a second floor. The chimney was extended later on.

Bill

pitiful!
i would not leave that site until the poco disconnected those services.accidents waiting to happen.

Bill:
In the humble opinion of an AHJ and Contractor..
FRom the AHJ standpoint:
Photo 1,2,3& 4 all create an "unsafe" condition, I could issue a violation sticker at site, proceed to the office and write a "written violation notice" indicating a $500.00 per day fine, and a notice of shut-off, unless repairs are promptly initiated with a permit. 99% of the time, the repairs are made very promptly.

From the contractor side:
In this area, the people creating these situations are siders, or carpenters/builders. Unfortunatly, they are not licensed in NJ,but some towns require them to "register". The "bad" ones give the whole trade a bad name. I guess it generates some work for the EC's, but it sure creates a dangerous condition.
John

Add this one to the collection...

I have had to do two "emergency" service changes after the service riser/mast was damaged. In both cases, an impact (truck/ falling tree limb) tore the riser (and meter pan) from the house. The riser broke off the meter pan, cut into the service feed, and there were dramatic scorch marks, charring on the house.
These older services had no ground rods, and 1 1/4" risers. Here, new installs have 2" risers, must go through the eave and have the weatherhead/drip loop above the roof, and, of course, have ground rods.

ah the evil 'siding guy' cometh eh?

the same occured up the street from me, the meter reader has had to read the meter upside down now for 3 years.

legally, nothing can be done

let'em burn i say! the local FF's have never lost a cellarhole that i know of!

Sparky,

Here's that Siding Guy again:





This was like this for many months before the service was redone. I've seen one time where the Meter was upside down and 1/2 full of water. It was turned over all day while the service was changed, but the water didn't come out. We ended up flat-connecting it and told the POCO We couldn't plug the meter back in. Not sure what would have happened, but it didn't seem like a good idea.

Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 04-05-2003).]

Heres what I want to know, how the heck do they get the can off the building without removing the meter. Aren't they screwed on through the back of the can?. Just take a big pry bar and yard it off the side of a building?. it might be quite a surprise if the screws holding it fell across a line

The first guy I worked for had a deal with a siding company and we got to go around and "fix" these services, many times if it was in bad shape we would sell the customer a new service.

As far as getting it off the wall, yes they would just pry them off and use tape on the screws to keep them from falling in.

I know I would not have done it many times the old SER would be in terrible shape and I would not flex it at the connector live.

I agree, they simply pry it off the wall. Maybe they are not aware of what can happen with those screws. Sometimes they will 'attempt' to reattach the service to the house themselves (by the conduit and cable) and use makeshift straps they've fashioned from vinyl scraps. The result of their handywork can often be seen some time later with a water damaged basement panel.

Bill

I remember the view while riding the elevated train ("The El") in Philadelphia. Between Kensington and Spring Garden, I saw lots of service entrance cables attached via yellow rope. They had been like that for years. Not quite sure why, though...

Although “fictional,” if you have seen the movie "Tin Men," it's easier to understand why neighborhoods’ full electrical hazards from siding installation are created.

Guys,
I don't know about you, but I reckon that this sort of thing is just down-right negligent and slack!.
It shows that the siding contractors, couldn't really give a stuff, about thier customers safety.
What say a child started to play with "the funny looking thing, hanging off the side of the house".

We had a few good storms in N.California afew years ago, and I saw MANY of these then. But the best was a service that pulled half the Kitchen out with it. "The guy who built the house, was an Electrician." And, he did really nice work. Piped most of the house in wood framing, no easy task. ( EMT and steel fittings. ) But several decades later, the service gets ripped out, along with most of the others on the street when the poles fell in this storm. Everyone else has a cracked hub and a loose riser. But this one has the service, the EMT, boxes and plugs intact on the lawn, after they ripped through the studs and siding.